Abnormal shortening of muscle tissue, rendering the muscle highly resistant to stretching, can lead to a permanent disability. It can be caused by fibrosis of the tissues supporting the muscle or the joint, or by disorders of the muscle fibers themselves. In extreme cases, such conditions are categorized as contractures.
Improper support and positioning of joints affected by arthritis or injury, and inadequate exercising of joints in patients with paralysis can result in contractures. For example, a patient with arthritis or severe burns may assume the most comfortable position and will resist changing position because motion is painful. If the joints are allowed to remain in a single position, the muscle fibers that normally provide motion will stretch or shorten to accommodate the position and eventually will lose their ability to contract and relax.
In some cases, a human hand will remain substantially in a single position. Therapy involves flexing and extending the hand using devices such as DYNASPLINT® devices configured for the hand. Therapy has been successful, even if the patient's hand is in a c-cup position, in which the palm and fingers form an approximation of the letter “c.”
In some cases, unfortunately, the fingers of a human hand will remain substantially in a single position mimicking a fist. Although not impossible, flexing and extending a hand on which one or more fingers are so substantially fixed is difficult to achieve with some devices. In such cases, it would be helpful to extend the flexed fingers away from the closed or semi-closed fist position.
By extending the flexed fingers to the point where the hand and fingers are capable to form a c-cup position, it becomes possible to extend and/or flex the hand using a device having a hand piece configured for a c-cup configuration. Indeed, the inventor realized that hands and fingers capable of forming a c-cup are more responsive to hand flexing and extending therapies.